here's to never growing up
by Empress of Everything
Summary: Being run down by a golden haired goddess on a bicycle is one interesting way to start a summer. {RoLu.}


A/N: Look, Happy!RoLu!

Wait, that's a thing? Huh, who knew?

For Fareetauhl for being the 100th reviewer of The Great Collection!

 **Prompt** : Here's To Never Growing Up and Live While We're Young.

 **Pairing** : Rogue/Lucy

* * *

Being run down by a golden haired goddess on a bicycle is one interesting way to start a summer.

The summer of his lifetime.

Rogue is a quiet person. Partying, drinking, and the wildness of his peers isn't his scene. He'd prefer a quiet corner to read his book while his twin brother throws himself head-on into the party scene. He is quiet, boring, a bookworm, a stick in the mud, spiritless, dull as dishwater, and perfectly content to stay that way.

Funny how Fate had a different plan for him.

More like enjoys throwing monkey wrenches in his carefully laid out summer plans, to be completely honest.

It starts in the golden light of a summer afternoon, the day after school is released for the year. A nose jammed firmly in a book, dark clothes even though the heat is blistering, putting one foot in front of the other, all in all a normal afternoon for Rogue.

When she comes from nowhere on an out-of control bike, he doesn't have a chance to move. She shrieks, from fear, surprise, or the adrenaline rush she seems to get from dangerous situations, he never finds out. They fall to the pavement in a tangle of metal, paper, and limbs. Opening his eyes, a pair of concerned brown eyes meet his. She is straddling him, her lips moving, asking if he was okay. He doesn't reply. He can't with the vision of beauty dominating his sight.

The sunlight casts a halo around her, turning her skin gold. Dust motes swirl around her head, catching and reflecting the light back onto her. Her blue top has slid off one shoulder exposing her bikini strap to the world. Of what he can see of her lower half, short denim shorts cover very little of her mile long thighs. Her knees are bent, so he can't see her feet but has to guess she is probably wearing flipflops.

She is a goddess. That is the only explanation he can come up with.

A persistent poking of his cheek draws his attention back to the girl.

She climbs off of him, offering him a hand up with a sweet smile. He accepts it still in a daze. Moving away from him, the girl rights her bike and stands silently next to him.

Her gold head turns at a shout from further up the street. Three teens stand there, beckoning and waving for his golden girl to come on. She glances at him, her lips pursed in thought, then beaming, grabs his hand and a marker from nowhere. She scribbles something on his hand. With another smile, she blows him a kiss and runs off to join her friends.

He stands in the middle of the street in their sleepy little town.

She turns back once. To wave and laugh at his stunned expression.

He looks down at his sharpie covered hand.

In neat handwriting it says: **Lucy: 923-5687 ;)**

* * *

He dubs her Miss Live While We're Young. That seems to be her motto. She throws herself headlong into adventures, determined to squeeze as much out of her days as she could.

Everywhere he goes in town, he sees her.

Walking down the street arm in arm with a bluenette or a redhead, she glows.

Dancing in the park with a group of little girls, she sparkles.

Riding piggyback on a pinkette's back, crowing and waving a sword triumphantly, she burns with an unquenchable fire, the same fire he had seen in her eyes the day she ran him over.

He doesn't dare try calling or texting her. That's too far outside his comfort zone.

Has he memorized her phone number and put it in his phone, saving her name under the heading Miss Live While We're Young?

Yes. Yes he has.

The catalyst of the whole I'm-somehow-pining-over-this-girl-I've-sort-of-met-once-and-she's-really-pretty-but-I'm-kind-of-intimidated-by-her-because-I-don't-know-her-and-why-would-she-be-interested-in-me? comes two weeks later when his brother steals his phone. After thirty minutes of screaming and desperate attempts to get said phone back, Sting is triumphant and cackling over his brother.

When Sting tosses his phone back to him after only a few minutes, he is understandably suspicious.

Then he gets a text.

 _Hi, Rogue! I'm so glad you decided to text me!_

Oh, no he didn't. _He didn't._

Sting is a dead man.

For a moment, he wonders why he hasn't _freaking **murdered** his idiotic twin brother for breathing the same air as him by now because honestly, he just might after this act of unforgivable stupidity._

Oh well, there's no getting around it. Time to face the music like a man.

 **I'm sorry for the mixup. I didn't actually text you. My brother stole my phone and no doubt tried to cause mischief since that is his trademark.**

 _Oh, that's too bad!_

 _Though to be honest, I was trying to think of an excuse to run you over again so I could get your number and text you._

 _Running you over would be a last resort of course._

 _I'd prefer talking to you in person._

 _That'd be better._

 _Running you over was an accident, I hope you know that. And I hope I didn't hurt you too bad._

 **You're fine.**

 **And I've been trying to work up the courage to talk to you, too.**

 **You seem like a very interesting person.**

 _Aw, thanks! You do, too!_

 _Do you think we could be friends?_

 _I'd like that._

 **I…I'd like that too.**

He only hopes he won't regret letting this wild girl into his life.

* * *

Spirits.

That's the best way to describe the unfathomable mystery that is Lucy Heartfilia.

Full of spirits.

High-strung.

High-spirited.

Certifiably _insane_ after the water slide incident.

The first adventure she drags him on is a search for Neverland. She hops about excitedly, chattering away a mile a minute. He can barely keep up with her train of thought but she doesn't seem to care. She just seems happy to have another person to talk to.

They don't find Neverland that day. They do find sparkly rocks, a water snake that makes her shriek and clamber up his back like a tree, and the biggest bullfrog Rogue has ever seen in his life.

He takes it home and slips it into Sting's bed as revenge for the phone incident. His screams are like music to Rogue's ears. He records his brother's reaction for Lucy. Who finds it hysterical.

Of course, he can't be _too_ mad at his brother. He's gained a new, quirky, off the wall friend who's exuberance for life is a little hard to understand.

But she's amazing. He can't stay away from her. She has an addictive personality and all he wants to do is stay near her.

He still tries to kill Sting whenever he can. The boy has lived in peace for too long. Time to shake things up a bit.

Lucy agrees wholeheartedly and helps out with revenge schemes like a pro. He wonders where she learned to be so evil. She simply smirks and points to Natsu and Gray, her two male friends who seem just as odd as she is.

They talk all day and all night. When he isn't hanging out with her somewhere around town, or she's sick, they're texting. She gets bored easily, he learns. When she's bored, she pesters him until he pays attention to her.

* * *

 _Rogue._

 _Rogue._

 _Rogue._

 _Rogue._

 _Rogue._

 _Rogue._

 _Rogue._

 _Rogue._

 _Rogue._

 _Rogue._

 **What?**

 _Entertain me._

 **What.**

 _Entertain me._

 _My dad is gone._

 _Natsu and Gray and Erza are out of town._

 _The house is empty._

 _And I'm sick._

 _And bored._

 _Entertain me._

 **Why.**

 _Please._

 **Why.**

 _Because you're a good friend?_

 **Why.**

 _Because I asked nicely?_

 **Why.**

 _So I don't come over there and drape my sick self all over you and get you sick too, you germaphobe?_

 **…**

 **…**

 **Why are we friends again?**

 _Because I ran you over._

 _Best and most epic way to start a friendship in the history of friendships._

 _I bet that's how Caesar and Brutus's friendship started; one of them ran the other over. Then BAM! Friends forever!_

 **Brutus killed Caesar.**

 _What's your point?_

 **Should we really be emulating them?**

 _You couldn't kill me if you tried._

 **You sure about that?**

 _Yes._

 _You like me too much to kill me, you downer._

 _Now, entertain me._

 _Your queen commands it._

 **I could kill you.**

 _No you couldn't. You love me._

 **…I'm not sure what to say to that.**

 _You're supposed to say yes, I do love you._

 **Are you confessing to me, Miss Heartfilia?**

 _…_

 _…_

 _…_

 **Well?**

 _This isn't how it's supposed to go._

 **So? When have you even given any sort of social convention any consideration?**

 **You have consistently shown that you simply don't care what other people think.**

 **You're above that because you love life and living.**

 **You don't let anything hold you back.**

 **Not even what other people or society thinks is the way things are done when you set your mind to what you want.**

 _…_

 _…_

 _That's probably the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me via a text message._

 _Is that a counter confession I'm hearing, Mr. Cheney?_

 **Yeah. It is.**

 _Then I'm glad._

 _If I wasn't sick, (and all the way across town) I'd kiss you right now._

 **Kissing can wait until you're better, Miss Live While We're Young.**

 _Yeah, we'll being doing what we do, just pretending that we're cool and we know it too,_

 _Yeah, we'll keep doing what we do, just pretending that we're cool so tonight,_

 _Let's go crazy, crazy, crazy, till we see the sun,_

 **I know we only met but let's pretend it's love**

 **And never, never, never stop for anyone,**

 _Tonight let's get some,_

 ** _And Live While We're Young!_**

 **Flirting via One Direction song lyrics and text messages.**

 **What has my life become?**

 _Aw, you know you like it, Rogue! Your life was boring before we met!_

 **Yeah, it was.**

 **Now, go to sleep. I'm done entertaining you.**

 _But Rogueeeeee…_

 **NO. I confessed to you and typed out One Direction lyrics, something I NEVER thought I would do. Go to sleep.**

 _Fine._

 _Goodnight._

 **Goodnight, Lucy.**

 _XOXOX_

 **XOXOX to you, too.**

* * *

Sometimes he thinks she must have a couple loose screws rattling about in that brain of hers.

Why else would she do crazy things like run around in her bikini in the middle of the night waving sparklers and singing at the top of her lungs? Or starting an impromptu dance off in the middle of the mall? Or hosting a parade for no reason other than 'why not?' down Main Street with all the teens and kids she can coerce into helping her? And drag him along into her madness?

Maybe he's the one with the screws loose. After all, he is in love with this girl.

Is he surprised that her ringtone is Here's To Never Growing Up by Avril Lavigne? He shouldn't be. She pretty much personifies that song.

She _is_ that song.

Then she tells him _why_ she is the way she is.

The loss of her mother at a young age. Being told by her father that she shouldn't have lived past the age of five because of her weak body. Constant bouts of illness and visits to the hospital.

Deciding, with the help of her dearest friends, that it's better to live no matter how many days she may or may not have than just exist and not even try to have fun. It's always more fun when they're together, she tells him. 'They' being the group of close-knit friends he and his twin have somehow become a part of without even realizing it.

When he kisses her the first time, it's an adventure.

Life with Lucy is an adventure. He wouldn't trade his life now for his existence back then.

Not for all the world.

* * *

 _ **I will be hosting a MidKino week (Midnight/Yukino) from January 31 to February 6, 2016. Please join me in this new crack pairing love!**_

 **MidKino Week prompts**

 **Day one:** Can I keep you?

 **Day two:** Sugar High

 **Day three:** Roommates

 **Day four:** Late night shopping

 **Day five:** Makeup Fail

 **Day six:** Old Friends

 **Day seven:** Transport

 **Bonus:** Burnt

Please tell me if you're planning on participating so I can check out your stories! I'm looking for a co-host as well. If anyone is interested, please PM me!


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